Dragons, lanterns, countless steps, rice fields, abundant tea, jade, walled towns and quaint villages bring memories of China to Times of Malta photojournalist Matthew Mirabelli, but Guizhou is all this and much more.
“It is a karst landscape, sedimentary rock eroded, dented, riddled with holes and vast caves formed by underground, mighty rivers. The landscape is quaint and strange, with conical mountains and hills covered by luscious vegetation as far as the eye can see. The mountains look like volcanoes but without craters or lava flows,” he says. Mr Mirabelli is one of five Maltese artists who recently travelled to Guizhou and visually translated their impressions of China in an exhibition organised by the China Cultural Centre in Malta.
Endorsed by the Valletta 2018 Foundation and called Inspired by China, it seeks to capture and reveal the face of present-day China through the eyes of Maltese artists.
The crisp lines in the architecture and the most auspicious colour in Chinese culture, red, are just two of the elements that struck Enriqué Tabone.
The “explosion of colours, sounds and tastes” left an obvious impression on Stephen Grima, whose “senses were overloaded with information”.
The exhibition displays work in various media, including plexiglass, ink, oil on woodcarving, photographic prints and plaster.
The artists taking part in the exhibition, curated by E. V. Borg and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of China, also include Aaron Bezzina and John Vic Borg.
Inspired by China will be open to the public in the Parliament building, Freedom Square, Valletta, from January 19 to February 28.
The exhibition hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9.30am to 12.30pm. The exhibition will then move to the SkyParks Business Centre at Malta International Airport, Gudja, to the Ministry for Gozo, St Francis Square, Victoria, and later to the Renoir Gallery at the Cavalieri Art Hotel, Water’s Edge, Spinola Road, St Julian’s.
More information is available by calling 2122 5055 or via maltaccc@gmail.com.